Big Gay Hudson Valley and Friends of the Walkway Kick off Pride Season With A Full Calendar of Events That Includes The Debut of the World’s Largest Trans Pride Flag, Pride Fun Run, LGBTQ+ Birding Walk, Sails & Tours aboard the Queerwater, a Proud Pet Paw-rade & More!
April 24, 2025 (Poughkeepsie, NY) Big Gay Hudson Valley in partnership with the Friends of the Walkway and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation will host the second annual Pride In The Sky community celebration on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park
FREE Admission for Pride In The Sky is made possible thanks to support from I LOVE NY, Hudson Valley Credit Union, WMC Health, CDPHP, New York State Department of Health, Ulster County Tourism, Destination Dutchess, Upstate Modernist and iHeart Media.
This all-ages, pet-friendly event will kick off Pride season in the Hudson Valley with a nighttime celebration that will cover the breathtaking Walkway Over the Hudson in rainbows in more ways than one.
One Giant Pride Celebration. Two Community Festivals.
Big Gay Hudson Valley’s Pride In The Sky will feature community festivals with vendors, LGBTQ+ pride groups, LGBTQ+ owned and allied business, community groups and more on both the Poughkeepsie and the Highland side of the Walkway. Performances including live music, burlesque and drag will be highlighted throughout the evening event at four different locations along the Walkway’s two mile span.
Food and beverage will be available on both sides of the Walkway from New York State Parks vendors as City Winery (Dutchess side) and Bad Seed Hard Cider (Ulster side) serve adult libations in the designated beverage gardens located at the Park Pavilions on each side.
Attendees are invited to travel the full length of the Walkway (1.28 miles) to experience the gatherings on both sides of the Hudson River. Last year’s inaugural Pride In The Sky Celebration attracted a crowd of 3000+. This year’s event will span from 4pm to 10pm and promises to draw even more interest from the public thanks to an expanded schedule of programming leading up to the start.
“The first-ever Pride in the Sky was incredible and year two is shaping up to be even bigger with more music, performers, exciting activations from community partners, and even a pet parade!” said Lori Robertson, Executive Director of Friends of the Walkway. “We’re proud that Walkway Over the Hudson is one of the most inclusive and accessible parks in New York State and we can’t wait to see the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge awash in rainbows on May 17.”
Two Of The World’s Largest Pride Flags
Just before sunset, two groups of flag marshals will step off from each side of the Walkway and parade two of the world’s largest Pride flags to the center of the bridge.
A 16-foot wide, 500-foot long portion of Gilbert Baker’s original 8-color Pride flag will step off from the Dutchess County (east) side and a 16-foot wide, 125-foot long community-supported & newly created trans pride flag (the world’s largest) will step off from the Ulster County (west) side. This massive transgender pride flag was created by the Catskill-based Made X Hudson and was made possible thanks to a GoFundMe campaign from earlier in 2025.
The procession of the original 8-color Gilbert Baker Pride flag will be led by six members of the Kingston-based Unicorn Brass Band. The meeting of these two flags in the Center of Walkway Over The Hudson will be a powerful symbolic demonstration of how the region’s LGBTQ+ community continues to stand strong with our Transgender siblings during these challenging times.
Community members and allies are invited and encouraged to sign up as a Flag Marshal to help carry these massive flags as part of Pride In The Sky. Signups are open now at biggayhudsonvalley.com/PrideInTheSky.
Proud Pet Paw-Rade
Pet owners and lovers are invited to bring their furry, four-legged loved ones out for a very special Proud Pet Paw-Rade at 4:30p, presented in partnership with Central Bark Poughkeepsie. Colorful looks for pets and their owners are encouraged. Kicking off from the Highland (west) side of the Walkway and going to the bridge’s center, participants and their looks will be ranked by our judges with prizes being awarded for the most ‘proud’ looks.
Live Entertainment
New for 2025, Pride In The Sky will feature entertainment from a number of local and NYC-based performers and musicians. On the west side park in Highland, New Paltz-based Minorikeys will perform throughout the evening, joined by special guests including Esme, Shaun Bazylewicz and APB Entertainment.
The two smaller bump outs on the Highland and Poughkeepsie sides of Walkway Over The Hudson will feature performances from Beacon-based Andramada and the Haus of Drama as well as Brooklyn’s DJ Go Go Gadget and Queen Glow Job, well-known for their performances at the House of Yes!
In the Center of the Walkway, Poughkeepsie-based DJ Prephab with support from Superior Sounds will keep the beats pumping for a sunset-to-starlight dance party from 6pm to 10pm.
A Waterfront Awash With Pride
In addition to the activities happening at Walkway Over The Hudson during the Pride In The Sky Celebration, two additional Hudson River icons will also show their Pride on May 17th.
First will be the Mid Hudson Bridge, which will be illuminated in rainbow for Pride In The Sky starting at dusk.
Second will be the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a historic 106-foot Hudson River Sloop replica, recognized as America’s Environmental Flagship, which will be docked for the weekend in Poughkeepsie’s Waryas Park. The ship, renamed as the Queerwater in honor of pride season, supports and amplifies the LGBTQ+ community through their youth empowerment programs. The Queerwater will be festooned with pride flags and offering free tours throughout the day on May 17th, as well as a special Drag Story Hour event aboard the ship with Katarina Mirage starting at 1pm as well as special ticketed Pride Sails Aboard the Queerwater at 10:30am and 5pm.
Increased Accessibility for 2025
Shuttle buses will be available on both sides of the Hudson River from 4pm to 10pm and will allow guests easy access to the Walkway for Pride In The Sky from additional parking lots in Poughkeepsie and Highland, as well as the MetroNorth Poughkeepsie train station. A handicap accessible bus will be available on the Poughkeepsie side of the Hudson River for those needing additional assistance.
In addition to new shuttle service, Big Gay Hudson Valley has partnered with Heritage of Pride, the producer of New York City Pride, to help make Pride In The Sky accessible for all in the Greater New York City Market by organizing a special Pride Ride aboard Metro-North Railroad. The Pride Ride will leave Grand Central Terminal on Saturday, May 17th at 12:55p and arrive in Poughkeepsie at 2:58pm.
Pride In The Sky attendees arriving via MetroNorth Railroad are encouraged to take a FREE tour of the historic Queerwater, which will be docked in the Hudson a short walk away from the Poughkeepsie Station before taking the elevator up to the Walkway from Upper Landing Park for the celebration.
“Metro-North is pleased to support Big Gay Hudson Valley and their partners Friends of the Walkway and the New York State Office of Park, Recreation, and Historic Preservation in providing the best means of travel to attend Pride in the Sky for those in New York City and the Hudson Valley,” said Metro-North President Justin R. Vonashek. “Our Hudson Line trains are the frequent and reliable way to travel to Poughkeepsie. Metro-North has affordable off-peak and family fares. There’s no more beautiful, relaxing way to travel to Poughkeepsie and back home than on our Hudson Line. Check the MTA TrainTime app or www.mta.info/schedules for train times and fares.”
A Full Day Of Activities
Recognizing that many attendees come to Pride In The Sky from surrounding areas, Big Gay Hudson Valley has worked with a variety of partners to offer a wide range of activities throughout the day leading up to the evening event. These include:
- Pride Fun Run (10am)
- Queer Wings & Wild Things: LGBTQ+ Birders Walk (11am)
- Tours of the Queerwater (12 noon – 4pm)
- Hudson River Sail Aboard the Queerwater (10:30am)
- Drag Story Time on the Queerwater (1pm)
- Hudson River Sail Aboard the Queerwater (5pm)
Pre-Registration for most of these individual events is required. Additional details and the registration links are available at biggayhudsonvalley.com/PrideInTheSky.
Pre-Register to Attend for FREE
Pride In The Sky is free to attend with donations gladly accepted when registering to help underwrite the expenses related to the production of the event.
Pre-registration is strongly encouraged so that we can share important event information, weather updates, parking information and more with attendees. Complete your registration and get full event details at biggayhudsonvalley.com/PrideInTheSky.
Press Contact:
Stephan Hengst
Big Gay Hudson Valley Co-Founder
StephanHengst@gmail.com
Cell: 845.926.0652
Interviews and additional hi-res images and video available upon request.
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